True Ninja
by Septimus Golem
Summary: The shinobi world is split into several paths. Each one is different, with a focus on a specialized set of skills. Chakra manipulators, Fuinjutsu specialist, and Assassin are some of the top-tier tracks for a genin to work towards. Sakura dreams of becoming a world renowned assassin, and with help from the members of Team 4, she might just make it there.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to True Ninja! Hope you enjoy, and please give me some constructive helps me feel nice about myself.

Text formatting shouldn't be too absurd, I will only be using quotation marks and italics. Figure that shit out yourself, or google it. Grammar shouldn't be too big of an issue, and spelling is my game. Except when it's not, so point out anything you can see. Rated M because I really don't want to have to change it later, and the difference between T and M is very minor.

The fic is Sakura-centric because I feel that there aren't enough good ones that fit into that category, as well as I felt that there was zero Shika/Saku out there. Not even my OTP, so I don't know why this fic is going to have it, but sure. Muse rules all. Not like I give a shit.

Obligatory I don't own this shit. I will _**not**_ be posting this again, this is a fanfiction, it uses characters I do not own unless otherwise specified. Naruto is the intellectual property of Masashi Kishimoto, and really that should not need to be repeated.

* * *

 **Konohagakure ~~Day of Genin Exams**

* * *

Sakura was feeling sick. She felt sick since she woke up, and there were several reasons why. She knew that her general anxiety about the test was causing her sickness, but knowing that left little towards finding a cure. Her mother, when notified, simply told her that "You will be fine, dear. Eat your breakfast."

Not long after that, Sakura found herself at the base of the Homage tower, waiting with her class for the exams, and seemingly feeling worse than when she woke up.

 _Chaa! We can do this!_ said Inner.

"I don't think I can do this," she said aloud, although quietly. "Surely they won't allow me to pass. Only the best can pass. I'm barely at the Unranked level." Her rambling had no effect on herself, and she eventually settled enough nerves to walk into the building.  
She looked around for her assigned seat, which was next to a random civilian, and the large clan kid. Sighing because she wasn't near anybody she explicitly knew, Sakura sat down. The first portion began, and it was shockingly easy. No doubt it was a small challenge for others, but cognitive tests were her forte. The real challenge was in the following specialized tests.

The results would determine which team she would be placed on, as well as her projected ninja specialty. There were many to choose from, such as the basic jutsu users, to the more advanced chakra manipulators or even fuinjutsu.

Above them all stood the true mark of a ninja, assassination. Those members were the top notch, never seen. They were true shinobi, keeping to the shadows and refraining from the power struggle of tossing jutsu around. Not many could make the cut, but her dream was to reach the top tiers of the ninja system.

"Hn. Too easy," she heard from not too far away. Sakura looked at the person who spoke dreamily. Sasuke, the boy she had a crush on. But that wouldn't stop her today. _No more thoughts on Sasuke! We need to focus on showing big, yeah!_ Inner Sakura pumped her arms, hair and dress wavering slightly in her imagined breeze. _Let's get to it!_

* * *

"That wasn't so bad," Sakura said to her best friend Ino. They were waiting outside, sitting under a tree as the proctors began pulling two students at a time into the tented arena. "I got most of those questions done in time, but what if I messed up on something!" She gave her friend a look of panic, and began curling up into a ball.

"Hey, forehead. You did fine, if anything you need to be worried about the next test. We both know that we are nowhere near as strong as most the boys in the class. What if we were to go up against Sasuke!"

The two girls both looked at each other, and shivered. Everyone in their grade knew that Sasuke was rookie of the year, he would stop at nothing to become a ninja. Being a fellow leaf member, he would never seriously hurt someone, but in a spar he would attack with an intensity that many others lacked.

Sakura sighed, and stretched out onto the grass. "I just want to be put into a team that's good for me. What were you saying the other day about how they build the genin teams?"

"I told you already. Did you forget?" Seeing a pleading look on the pink haired girl, Ino deadpanned. "Fine," she sighed. "They balance teams. Papa told me that unless there is a request from a jōnin, they put you into teams based on what Ninja Path you will take. It's mostly guesswork, I suppose."

"Yeah, but how do they know? I have dreams, and I've never told them to anyone! How do they know? What if I get put with that creepy guy, or someone like Kiba! I think I would die." Sakura hung her head, tears building up in her eyes.  
Ino looped an arm around her shoulders, and simply sat there. They remained sitting under the tree until their sensei called Sakura over, as well as a random boy from a different class. She analyzed her sparring partner, watching from the corner of her eye as her walked into the far side of the arena.

* * *

Giving off a tight lipped smile to her sensei, she walked into the arena, intending to win her spar. She gave her opponent the appropriate hand sign for a spar, as Inner sat meditating inside her head, ready to do the quick thinking. She had the advantage, one she had since she was young. This wouldn't be a long match.

"Begin!" the proctor for the spar called. He was a jōnin, one who had never interacted with either student before. Actually, Sakura doubted that many jōnin had ever seen her spar, let alone watched her like this one did. It was intense, to say the least.

 _Your focus is slipping._

Right. The match. Duh. Her opponent had backpedaled to the far wall. He was small, and his arms seemed too skinny. Maybe he was some clan kid, after all? Throwing some shuriken, she intentionally missed with two of them. He dodged, which told her he was over cautious. She ran to her right and threw three more shuriken. When they were close to his right side, she whipped a kunai towards his left foot, forcing him to jump forwards or be hit by something.

 _He's done for._

Sakura hummed, she was right next to her target. She brought her arm forwards, in perfect form. Her target was caught flat-footed, having just landed from his jump. Her fist swung, and instead of smacking into the target's face, it instead hit a large, solid object.

 _Substitution. Damn._

Her target had escaped, but his jutsu left a cloud of smoke, masking her from sight. Perfect.

She dropped a smoke tag, recently purchased for this exact purpose. The tag began dumping it's own smoke, which quickly filled the small tented area. It was pink, an odd choice, but it was meant to completely mask her most identifiable feature, her hair.

Taking a moment to breathe, Sakura reached into her pouch. She pulled her favourite tool from her pouch, a kunai her merchant father had found in a small, second hand shop. It had a stylized handle, with a small spike replacing the circular end piece. The main weapon was just slightly curved, and included a small groove so that it wouldn't ever get stuck.

Stuck in what, Sakura refused to guess. It was no stretch of the imagination that the blade was meant for killing, and it was the most important thing in her young life, and career.

"There!" she heard her opponent cry, before feeling a soft breeze as his thrown kunai just barely missed her. Staying silent, she quickly calculated where he would be after having thrown the weapon, and tiptoed her way through the pink smoke.

"I know you're here somewhere! Come out so I can fight you!" said the smaller boy.

"I'm right here," she whispered into his ear while grabbing his right arm in her left, as her own other hand snaked around his head to point her kunai towards his eye."Proctor, call the match, please," she called a little louder. The jōnin materialised in front of her target, and gently pulled her arm back. Her target ran forward, breathing heavily. _Shock, and panic. He's going to faint._ "Proctor, I think he might... oh. Nevermind," Sakura had reached her arm out, just as the boy turned back to look at her. Having seen her pointing a weapon at her, the boy squeaked and promptly collapsed. The jōnin made a sound, suspiciously like a small snort. He checkmarked a few somethings in his book, before facing her.

"Winner, Sakura Haruno"


	2. Chp2 - Graduation: Part 2

True Ninja

Graduation: Pt2

Length: 1,310 Words +A/N

Last Updated: Jan 8 2016

* * *

"Winner, Sakura Haruno" The jōnin pointed to the exit door, letting Sakura know that she was free to leave. The door led back into the school building, and she walked back to her classroom. As she left, the proctor called out to her, "Room 27."

Nodding, Sakura began the walk through the building. _So far, we haven't even needed to rely on any tricks. Let's keep it up_. Inner Sakura smirked, as she seemingly walked beside the normal Sakura. It was just a hallucination, as no one else could ever see her Inner. With a heavy sigh, Sakura pointedly ignored Inner for the time being.

She would just be there until she wasn't needed. _I was here when you woke up, so I doubt I'm going away soon_ , said Inner. _I'll just make myself comfortable over here_. With a wink and a wave, Inner walked through the wall into the classroom. Sakura herself had to knock politely on the doorframe, and wait for someone to open the door for her.

"Welcome Sakura. Where is your sparring partner? I believe it was Nomura?

Ah. So his name was Nomura. Not that it mattered. During her spar, he was simply her target.

"I'm sorry sensei, Nomura required medical attention after our spar. He might not be joining us for the remainder," she said. Inside, her nerves were rolling, if just a little. Was it bad that she knocked out another student? He fainted in dead fear. That isn't close to ninja material. The teacher gave her a smile, nodded his head and walked back to his seat, allowing Sakura to enter. Inside were many of the other students who had their spars before her, with a select few missing. She assumed for a similar reason as her target had.

"While we wait, please be reminded that the next section will be administered on a pair basis. Please begin looking for a partner, but remember there are still more students coming in." The sensei went back to his reading, after giving a cursory glance across the students.

"Hmmm. I guess I'll wait for Ino to come in," Sakura said as she took a seat next to some sleeping kid. Sakura waited for a little, but when Ino came in she was quickly whisked away by someone else. Grumbling at her bad luck, she sat back down forcefully, stirring the air with her movements.

"Hey, stop that. I'm trying to nap before the next section starts." The voice came from her right, where there was only the sleeping kid and the wall. _Wow. Here I thought that the guys in our class were lazy. This guys must be a civvie, no clan heir would slack off like this! Well; maybe Kiba_ , Inner said, frowning and scratching her head.

Several minutes passed, until the teacher called out to find partners for the final time. Sakura glanced at the kid beside her. She would be loathe to have a lazy drag me down for the next part of the exam, but reminding him about the exam was the least she could do to help the poor kid.

"Hey, the next portion of exams are beginning. You need to find a partner."

Sakura heard nothing from the kid, except deep breathing. She stared at him in shock for a long moment; ( _How dare this random guy ignore us when we're_ _talking!_ ) before harshly poking the boy in the back of the head.

"Ow. I didn't deserve that, did I?" The dark haired kid looked up, eyes droopy with sleep and annoyance. He looked Sakura up and down, before mumbling something to himself. Out loud he asked, "You're Haruno? Shikamaru Nara. Please treat me nicely." His words were spoken slowly, but with a surprising amount of purpose. Not one second later and Sakura heard the unmistakable sound of head meeting desk. He had closed his eyes again.

"You didn't, really. But how else was I supposed to know you were napping, or just faking it." Some anger was leaking into her words now. "Besides, most people wouldn't wake up from some air being blown on them," Sakura hmmphed, crossing her arms over her chest. She pointedly looked away, only to notice that most other students were paired up already. The few who weren't were too far away by now.

 _Perfect. I bet this lazy asshole failed both parts of the exam, and now we get stuck with him_.

"Hey Nara. You're still looking for a partner?" Said like a statement, not a question. Sakura knew she would need to partner with this newly met genin hopeful, but who knew what the next test would be. In retaliation against the inevitable, she looked ahead to the front of the class, not looking at the sleeping bum beside her.

"I can only assume you are offering, Haruno. Would you like to finish the exam with me?" Again, his words were spoken slowly, like he couldn't put effort on the simple act of talking.

"At this stage I don't have much of a choice. Now pay attention to the proctor, I don't want to repeat anything"

* * *

The third part of the exam was a mock mission. Teams were each given a chūnin examiner, and the group would verbally engage in a mission plan. They were each given details, and were to create a plan to complete the mission

* * *

Their chunin proctor sighed. It had been a long exam, taxing his nerves as the two genin hopefuls in front of him picked his brain clean. Eventually he had called for a jonin support to test the two, and even he was figuratively ripped to shreds.

This was unprecedented, the mock mission test was chosen for the large amount of clan children in the class, and was a fully chunin based task. Yet here was not one, but _two_ kids that had stumped himself, as well as the lightly famed jonin strategist, Asuma Sarutobi. He had eventually reached the point where he simply gave the two top marks in an otherwise very taxing test. "Please rest in this classroom as we collect the remaining information for the test. Have a good day." With no discussion or even time to thank him, the proctor disappeared in a cloud of smoke and leaves.

The Nara looked at his partner in crime, the corner of his mouth twitched upwards into a half smile. "We passed, Haruno. Thank you for being my partner in this exam." With that, he dropped his head down and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Sakura's Diary

Day One, Academy Year Final

Dear diary, today was the first day back after the month long break. Break was nice, I celebrated my fourteenth birthday with a small group of friends. Despite that, summer is over, and ninja academy awaits once again! ( _Chaa!_ ) This is final year, and that means lots of changes. I might not have mentioned this before, diary, but I am obviously not from a clan. So I was put into a normal ninja class, and started two years earlier than any clan child. That includes Ino ( _Besties for life_ ). But! This year they put all the classes together, so we can learn some more things. At this point, they hope the civvies have gotten enough training to not weigh down the clan kids. And I get to see that one cute kid, who Ino tells me is named Sasuke Uchiha. Oh diary, he looks so cute. Except his hair. That's stupid looking. Who knows, we may be put on a team together? But a true kunoichi has little time for romance. And mother would kill me if I started dating before my 18th birthday. ( _Only four years, Sasuke. Get ready!_ )

Sakura out.

(See you next time)

* * *

A/N

Hello again. Hoping everyone had a good holiday, and happy new years! Anyways here's the next chapter, which I've had mostly written for a long time, but struggled to properly explain the portion of the exam here. So in the end I just cut it out, and glossed over it. As chapters continue, there will be more and more character development, as all the main figures in my fic develop or begin to show their flaws and strengths. For example, Sakura has quite a temper, which is seen often in cannon. Let me know what you guys think, leave a little review. As well, I think i will be including a little snippet of Sakura's Diary at the end of each chapter. It goes as a way to increase word count, help readers understand some of the (admittedly) complicated history that hasn't expressed itself, or otherwise contribute to the story. For example, things that Sakura has heard about but not experienced might make it in there. You will never see a Diary entry from the future, but there may be one that touched on something covering previous chapters. Eventually, they will be replaced by some Omakes. I have some funny ones planned out.

Next time: Graduation, and the Mizuki Incident!


End file.
